I Lived The Life Aquatic: Part II
Monday, September 24th, 2007![]()
Black-tipped Reef Shark. Long Island Bahamas. (click image to enlarge)
We fear the unknown and bring down cages where we become the caged animal. Over time we have learned that there is little to fear. We really don’t need those cages.
The Ankle Biter
Sometimes, if we had dived one location too many times in a row, towards the end of a dive the sharks would become satiated or uninterested in the bait bucket. I remember one dive in particular when the cinematographers, John and Adam, had dumped some of the chopped up fish on the reef to get the sharks to come in closer. After a short time John and Adam moved a few feet away to get a slightly different shot.
I had already finished my roll or two of film. Armed with my trusty stainless steel pole I was keeping an eye on the action while floating a few inches above the coral. For some unknown reason one of the smaller sharks kept swimming aggressively towards my ankles. It was very persistent.
John’s words rang through my mind, “If a shark is giving you trouble you just give it a good stiff poke with that steel rod”. (See part I).
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